Easy Stir Fry Gluten Free Pad Thai Recipe {Dairy-Free}

No need to run out to your favorite Thai restaurant – it’s just as easy to make your own gluten free Pad Thai at home and even more delicious. Dairy free too. 

Pad Thai is probably the first Thai dish I fell in love with. I would order it every chance I got and even now that I’m here in Thailand if I see it anywhere I must have it.

From Junie, the founder of the Koh Lanta Time for Lime cooking school I learned that this dish is in fact one of the harder dishes to master in Thai cuisine. It’s all about the balance of flavors and especially here it can be hard to get it quite right.

Many tourist cafes apparently just overload on the sugar, making the gluten free pad thai too sweet which is not the way it should be.

For the sauce in the gluten free pad thai we have the sour from the tamarind sauce, the salty from the fish sauce, another salty element from soy sauce, and sweet from sugar. There should be a subtle balance between these.

Also the tamarind sauce is a must. A lot of American versions of pad thai omit the tamarind and replace it with lime juice or vinegar but these really do not do it justice. Fresh tamarind can be found at a local Asian supermarket or on Amazon. From there you need to soak the tamarind in warm water using your hands to rub the two together and get through to all the fibers. The sauce can then be drained so that just the liquid remains, without any fibers or seeds from the actual tamarind.

As in most Thai recipes you must have all the ingredients prepped and ready before you even turn on the stove. This dish goes fast and the timing needs to be perfect for all the ingredients to be cooked properly.

In terms of the eggs, the result here should not be scrambled eggs. You want to make sure to add them to the wok and then move the wok from side to side so that the eggs spread evenly over the entire surface. When they are just beginning to set that’s when you throw the rest of the ingredients which have been set aside, and then you flip and stir. It should be more like an omelet that’s being wrapped around the noodles rather than fried or scrambled eggs.

Though it can be difficult to get everything just right the first time, with practice this dish will become perfect.

The cooking time is minimal so it’s simply a matter of gathering all the ingredients and getting them ready.

Trust me, this is a dish worth perfecting.

Make sure to serve with fresh bean sprouts, lime, crushed peanuts and dried chili flakes to make a real Thai meal.

While I do still love gluten free Pad Thai now my new favorite Thai stir fry is the gluten free pad see ew which is even easier to make, and more delicious if you ask me. Pad see ew gluten free? Yep, both pad thai and pad see ew are perfectly safe for gluten-free eaters.

Let me know what you think of this gluten free pad Thai in the comments below!

5 from 1 vote

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Thai Gluten Free Pad Thai

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

35 mins

 

No need to run out to your Thai restaurant - it's just as easy to make your own gluten free Pad Thai at home and even more delicious

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Thai

Servings: 4

Calories: 761 kcal

Author: Vicky Berman

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons tamarind sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons gluten free tamari
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup tofu cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 16 raw shrimp peeled and deveined
• 4 cloves garlic diced
• 4 small shallots diced
• 4 tablespoons dried shrimp
• 10 ounces Pad Thai rice noodles soaked in warm water for 30 minutes and drained
• 4 tablespoons broth
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 3 tablespoons sweet pickled white radish optional
• 3 spring onions chopped into 1 1/2 inch segments
• 7 tablespoons oil divided, (canola, soybean, vegetable, etc)
• Garnish:
• 2/3 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 1 lime cut into 4 segments
• 2 tablespoons chopped peanuts
• 1 tablespoon dried red pepper flakes

Instructions

1. To make the sauce in a bowl combine sugar, gluten free tamari, fish sauce and tamarind sauce. Mix until sugar dissolves.
2. Over medium-high heat heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok and stir fry tofu for 1 minute. Remove. Repeat with the raw shrimp.
3. Add 3 tablespoons oil to the wok and add garlic, shallot and dried shrimp. Stir fry until garlic is aromatic - 30 seconds.
4. To the wok add noodles and stock. Stir fry, making sure to flip the noodles over and rotate them around so they cook evenly. Remove.
5. Add 2 tablespoons oil to the wok and add eggs. Spread the eggs evenly over the wok by turning it side to side, without breaking them up. Wait for them to be half set and then add back the noodles, sauce, bean sprouts, pickled radish and tofu. Mix the eggs together with everything else gently, making sure not to scramble them up too much.
6. Remove from heat and add green onion. Mix until combined.
7. Serve garnished with bean sprouts, lime juice, peanuts and dried red pepper flakes.

This gluten free pad Thai recipe is from the Time For Lime Cooking School in Koh Lanta